I took pages and pages of notes from Seth Godin’s talk in LA to a small intimate and devoted group of Linchpins.
And since Seth has suggested that Linchpins everywhere meet and connect today in person, I thought for today’s Tuesday Tips I’d share three ideas that stuck with me and are inspiring me the most to rev people up.
In some ways, in his talk, Seth rehashed some of the themes in his book, Linchpins. But he also built on those themes, and he applied them to specific questions that people in attendance posed for him. I promise I will share more.
But today, here are three big ideas I took away last month, the ideas that stuck with me and reverberate the most:
1. Instead of going to graduate school, spend your money on starting your own business. If you succeed, great. If you don’t, analyze what you did wrong.
2. Anything anyone might want to know is out there on the internet. Anything anyone would like to read, to view, to listen to. So why buy art or books? For a keepsake. To hold it in your hands. To share with someone else. To feel a sense of belonging.
3. Take risks. Failure is instructive.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what it means to be a linchpin and I was wondering whether it could be taught because it has come so naturally to me.
I realize it can. I’ve been coaching someone in how to become a linchpin in his office. It’s scary and it feels risky to him, but what has he got to lose? He’d like the business he works for to stay open, to keep his job. That’s only going to happen if he becomes a linchpin, because the market is changing, and the company he’s working for is not. If he’s not able to make some changes, at least he took risks and he tried, and he’ll be able to use those lessons in his next job.
So what about you? Are YOU a linchpin? Do you want to be?
The Write Alley 